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I have fibro and had an mri of my l spine and right hip because of right thigh pain and my rheumy came up with the conclusion that I have referred pain from slightly herniated and compressed disks....he said steroid injections would help. Well the first round of pain went away but now its back, esp at night when I sit or drive or lie down to sleep. Nothing really helps the pain. I have ultracet and have even tried a vicodin, my migraine rescue med, it does not really do much. I was just wondering if anyone had these shots and how long do they last, the pain relief, etc.....he said it was arthritis. I am going to see him next week.

Where is your doctor going to give you the shot? At the lower back or at your hip?

I have had cortisone shots in my lower back, left hip (SI joint) and in my shoulder.

From my experience - when I was getting the combo shot (cortisone and longer lasting steriod and lindocaine) at my lower back - the lindocaine worked for the immediate and for about 3 hours afterwards. I was told that it will take a week or so for the cortisone to start working in that area (needs to be absorbed) but I did not notice any marked improvement with my pain. (L5-L3 herniation, L-5 osteophytes, L-5/S1 stenosis, Neural foramal stenosis).

Now I have had them injected into the hip and that did offer some relief and after about a week - I noticed improvement in my walking for about 3 months. Improvement but no total pain relief.

I noticed that the longer I had the shots - over 2 years in my shoulder the shots would lose their effectiveness....before I had my shoulder surgery I was barely getting one month of relief from the shots. They could only be given in 3 month intervals.

Let me know whether this helped or not.

Take care
Kim

__________________
Life is a series of mountains and valleys, some days we travel up the mountain effortlessly, some days we fall into the valley - what's important is.....we get up and climb that mountain again ~Quote by Julia Diemientieff, my Grandmother....Yup'ik Elder from Bethel, Alaska

I am not sure where the injection would be done...he said he would refer me out to someone else who does it...I have made an appt. and will see how it goes....of course as soon as I made the appt. the pain eases up! Thats what happened after I spooned out 25$ for a PT session....I didn't even have pain when I went. So who knows. I am frustrated but your reply was very helpful to me. He said something about pinched nerves and it would come and go....maybe I'll just see if he can offer something for pain relief until it gets really bad like the first time.

What you are dealing with is normal. A bit of anxiety or worry about pains or proceedures clear up when I make appointments - our minds way of saying okay now you are going to deal with this......and we relax.

If I were you I would still talk to the doctor about the pain, how it affected you and get the referral - if he is sure it would help you.

Use the referral if and when the pain flares again.

There are numerous strategies I utilize for pain relief. I will bring up the principals of PRICE again, because following the steps really do help me in a flare. P=prevention (Stop whatever I am doing - causing the pain - if it is walking then rest, if it is sitting - change position, if it is resting then move) R=rest - do not overdo anything, take life slow. I= Ice packs (I use the big blue plastic ones that are used in ice chests - icing is good for nerve pain as well as inflammation....C=Compression=wrap the area - if it is your arm a ace bandage is good, I have this belt I put around my lower back - keeps it stable. E=Elevate - just raise the body part that is hurting - problematic at the back but just raising my legs so they are above my body helps. Sometimes I lay on the floor and rest my legs on my couch.

If your doctor gives you something for pain relief, those help some people, me I stay with small doses. I like going natural - as much as possible.

Massage, isometric exercises, tens unit and plenty of water (keep well hydrated) are all good and help with the extreme pain. So do hot baths.

All the best to you....

Kim

__________________
Life is a series of mountains and valleys, some days we travel up the mountain effortlessly, some days we fall into the valley - what's important is.....we get up and climb that mountain again ~Quote by Julia Diemientieff, my Grandmother....Yup'ik Elder from Bethel, Alaska

Those were some very good ideas. I usually get the pain worst when I sit, I did notice one night I sort of jammed my leg straight and tight up against the wall while at computer and it seemed better....now its hardly hurting.....go figure...I am trying for disability right now due to a host of problems so I guess I will keep the appt....to add more to my miserable medical file. Sometimes I feel like I am almost normal....but I know I can't work right now.Thanks again for the good ideas...I appreciate your time!

I have thigh pain but it is on the outside of my thigh and hurts to walk. Also have lumbar issues, scaroliac is bugging me real bad again. do you have pain when you walk on the outside of your thighs? Am I the only one in the world that has this strange problem? Froggie

may be coming from compressed nerve in your lumbar region , you may have little or no back pain, but the nerve from each particular disk affects different part of leg, thigh, all the way to foot. an mri would should which disk is compressing the nerves,, this is a big learning thing right now and I will try to get back later but I am ssoooooooooo tired. I need to go to bed!

Good luck L. and Hi from Missouri,my friend Bob had this done 2 weeks
ago,he is 78 and thhey kept him over night,he did well and came home
in the morning,make sure you have a ridr there and back home. But
to be honest his pain begin once again. Don't forget we are all different
your's may do well mine did. Sue

I have disk problems & the pain you talk about on the outside of my thighs.
My doctor told me the pain on the outside of my thighs were "Trigger Points".
I have tried Trigger Point shots. They do not last long enough for me. What works best for me is Lidocaine Patches (RX). The trigger points make satellite trigger points if they are not worked out. Try a tennis ball to work them out with.
When I had the Cortisone shots in my back & neck.....I woke up from them with Zero pain, only the pain returned in 3 days. I have had several hoping they would last at least 2 weeks, they never have.

Not everyone is the same. Hopefully you will have great results with yours. It certainly doesn't hurt to try & just think how wonderful it would be if it worked!

After you read the first page & click okay for legal stuff. Go to the next page & click on where you are hurting. Scroll down it will then show you where the referred pain is coming from. Each X marks a Trigger Point. After you find the one that describes you click on the X. It will explain a lot about that area.

Bursitis, that's my non-medical voice of experience opinion.
Trochanteric Bursitis to be exact if it's on the outside of the hip.
Been there done that.. MEAN pain for sure from the entire hip outside and roaring down the theigh.

Bursa are small sacs of something.. that are between the bone and muscle allowing easy sliding of the muscle over the bone. When the bursa get smashed they tend to scream at you.

Mine was caused by my spine bending and pulling the muscles too tight over and therefor smashing and irritating the bursa on my hips Greater Trochanteric bone.

To get the diagnosis..
I Had the hip Xrays that showed no new problems, no hip arthritis.
I Had an MRI upon which they said Trochanteric Bursitis on the report

Got the steroid shot (wonderful relief after 3 days)

But of course my spine continued to bend so the bursitis was unhappily reoccurring.

Did PT, helped only a tiny bit.

Found a Chiropractor to help subjegate the bending of my spine....
GREAT results after many visits (It's not a short term commitment) and the hip bursitis pain monster is currently NICELY controlled.

To NOT have that constant monster pain any more is so wonderful.

I will continue seeing my Chiro since my spine will continuely need subjegated as it continues attempting to bend convexly to the left. The bending spine is due to my osteoarthritis and osteoporisis.

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